A new revolutionary drug combination is expected to work wonders for thousands of women suffering from ovarian cancer as it was shown to shrink tumours in half of patients with an advanced form of the disease. The pair of drugs could offer a new treatment option for women with a type of ovarian cancer that rarely responds to chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Scientists from early trials of the new drug combination called the results “fantastic”.
Conclusions were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress, suggesting the treatment was highly effective. They were so successful that a phase 2 trial is already underway. Phase 1 trial, led by a team at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, tested the drugs VS-6766 and defactinib in patients with low-grade serous ovarian cancer. Researchers said this type of cancer tends to develop at a younger age, less than 13 per cent of patients respond to chemotherapy and less than 14 per cent respond to hormone therapy.
Trial results revealed tumours shrank significantly in 46 per cent of the 24 patients evaluated. Outcomes were even better in patients with a particular mutation, with 64 per cent who have KRAS-driven tumours seeing them shrink after treatment. The researchers said this indicated that tumour profiles could be used to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from the new treatment.
Prof Kristian Helin, chief executive of the ICR, said, “Overcoming cancer’s ability to evolve resistance to treatment is a huge challenge for cancer research. This study has turned a deep understanding of how cancer fuels its growth and develops resistance into a highly targeted treatment for patients who currently have few treatment options.”
Dr Susana Banerjee, consultant medical oncologist and research lead at the Royal Marsden’s gynaecology unit, said, “If these findings are confirmed in larger trials, they’ll represent a significant advance in low-grade serous ovarian cancer treatment.”
She added, “I am delighted that this drug combination has worked so well in a group of patients who are in urgent need of new treatments, including those who have previously been treated with a MEK inhibitor. We’re very hopeful that this could become the standard of care for women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer.”
